Nissan ZEOD: all you need to know

Inspired by DeltaWing, powered by battery: take a poke around Nissan's revolutionary Le Mans coupe

But before you get excited about a ZEOD-shaped GT-R, there's a long way to go before the racecar is Le Mans-ready. "The whole project is a voyage of discovery and a little bit frightening," Bowlby admits, nervously. "A lot of the things we're doing are firsts, and to make the car whizz around the track for 24 hours is the ultimate automotive challenge."

With less than nine months to go before the race, the team has a lot of long nights in the factory to look forward to. The car currently doesn't have a finalised engine, and they're already struggling with battery-related gremlins. "We've had real challenges putting the battery together and it not melting down," says Bowlby with a worried laugh. But if all goes to plan, and with a long enough straight, he also reckons it'll easily be the fastest electric car in the world.

So if you want a glimpse of where endurance racing is going, as well as future road-car technology, head off to La Sarthe next year and keep an eye out for the one that looks like an Imperial Stormtrooper's Reliant Robin.